Israel / Masorti Olami Programs

Israel will be secure as long as American Jews have a strong bond to the land. Over the past 5 years, whilethere has been unrest in the State of Israel, this bond has shown signs of weakening. Finding ways toencourage our youth (and their parents) to visit and see the land, has always led to successful bonding forthose who go.On March 11, Men’s Club and others in EBJC heard from several young adults who visited Israel tell theiruplifting stories - “What I did on my Summer Vacation” -Israel Through the Eyes of Teens. A few of us

Men’s Club takes responsibility for Friday Night and Saturday services. Last year’s event included a Shabbat Dinner, but scheduling made it impossible to do that this year. Hopefully, we’ll be able to re-start that tradition next year.

Twenty-one-year old Yotam Zach, the 2009-2010 Metrowest (NJ) Youth Shaliach, presented to our club on September 15, 2009. Yotam spoke of his experiences growing up in Israel as the son of the mayor of the town of Azur, and leading an infantry unit that had to remove Jews from Gaza during disengagement and battle hostile forces in Gaza as shoulder-fired missles landed in Israeli border towns. Partnering with the CAI’s Israel Committee, the program’s purpose was to raise awareness of the realities of what it means to “grow up Israeli”.

A fundraiser was developed centering on the distribution of Chanukah Candles to our Congregation. We coupled this with the identification of the Limudiah program of the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ) as an organization near and dear to our Rabbi and Men’s Progress Club board members, to direct a portion of our proceeds from this program.

Over the past ten years, Temple Etz Chaim’s Men’s Club has sponsored a Scholar in Residence Weekend once yearly whereby we bring an eminent scholar or speaker to our community for a weekend of learning. As the expectations of our temple members have increased with the caliber of speakers we have been brought to campus, we have found it difficult to financially afford upper-echelon speakers. This Torch Award documents creative ways we have collaborated to bring such eminent scholars as Rabbi Bradley Artson to our synagogue.